Reportedly, older Americans lose approximately $36.5 billion a year to financial scams and abuse; and those numbers are increasing as technology makes it easier for scammers to target older Americans. I know my home phone rings ceaselessly with junk phone calls from marketers trying to fool me and my wife into some unscrupulous scam.
In 2016, a survey by the Investor Protection Trust found that nearly one in five seniors — approximately seven million Americans — have reported being victims of exploitation. In 2018, U.S. banks reported a record 24,454 cases of suspected elder financial abuse to the Treasury Department — more than double the number of suspected cases five years earlier.
Congress attempted to bring some help to seniors with a new bill titled “The Senior Security Act of 2019”. Our 1st District Representative, Harris, voted against it. A vote against H.R. 1867 was a vote against added financial protection for seniors in our district.
The vote was 392 voting YEA, 20 voting NAY. Harris voted NAY.
What is House Bill H.R. 1876?
This bill — the Senior Security Act of 2019 — would create a Senior Investor Taskforce at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would examine and identify challenges facing senior investors. This interdivisional task force would be comprised of staff from the Division of Enforcement, Office of Compliance, Inspections and Examinations, and Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. The task force, in consultation with other SEC offices, state securities and law enforcement authorities, state insurance regulators, and federal agencies, would report its findings to Congress every two years and recommend any regulatory or statutory changes.
Further, within one year of this bill’s enactment, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) would be required to study and report on the economic costs of the financial exploitation of senior citizens. For more information please go here.
Christopher A. Koch
President
Bristol Realty Corporation
Joseph T Coyle, MD says
Re-read Frank’s book (2004) “What’s the matter with Kansas?”. Harris has consistently and glaringly (392 yeas versus 20 neas including Harris on the cited bill) voted against the interests of the farmers, watermen, seniors and parents in his district in contrast to his predecessor, Wayne Gilchrist. The question is “WHY?”
Robert Garson says
Who Votes for Harris Anyway? WHAT GOOD HAS HE EVER DONE FOR HIS CONSTITUENTS?
Michael McDowell says
Harris is an irresponsible menace. And a lot of those who vote for him are seniors who are voting against their own interest. They need to wise up. Harris is now is a virtual nobody in Congress, in a minority, was never a committee chair, never a successful sponsor of legislation, and unable to win senior positions in the hard right “Freedom” Caucus of other Republican neanderthals.
His latest meddling is now in DC — where nobody voted for him or elected him — just because, under the arcane history of DC, Harris can interfere as a committee member with long out of date “oversight” of the cit6y. Hopefully this time, a referendum on marijuana which was PASSED by DC voters will not be thwarted. But just look at what he is up to this week. This isn’t his business — but then he doesn’t do anything positive for District 1.
Truly “Dr. No” who is an embarrassment to Maryland: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-mayor-muriel-bowser-unveils-bill-to-legalize-recreational-marijuana-sales/2019/05/01/108ac2fa-6c19-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5_story.html?utm_term=.19ab932d765e&wpisrc=nl_buzz&wpmm=1